Section 4 - Historical Perspective: Significant Events/Steps in the Development of Quality Management in Forensic Science

Abstract

In this section, the genesis of quality management in forensic science is discussed and development charted. Events that directly led to the adoption of quality standards and eventual conformance with the international standard ISO/IEC 17025 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories” from the late 1990's onward and more recently ISO/IEC 17020 “Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection” are described. In Europe, quality control and quality assurance were established in forensic science laboratories in the early 1990s in compliance with national standards based on ISO/IEC Guide 25 “General requirements for the competence of calibration and testing laboratories”. In the United States, discipline-specific working groups began to contribute to quality standards' development from the late 1980s onward. However, it was a combination of miscarriages of justice, poor performance, and the advent of DNA-based evidence that identified the need for quality standards and contributed to the development of the quality management systems in place today. This section examines each of those contributory factors and the response of forensic science stakeholders and charts the development and introduction of the major quality standards, particularly ISO/IEC 17025.